Madden 16 impressions: better looking, better feeling — with an overpowered deep-passing game

The scent of pigskin cutting through the crisp September air is drifting in from the horizon; it appears that hashtag-Madden-Season is upon us. You can set your watch to a new entry in EA Sports’ iconic (American) football series, but as devotees will tell you, each game stands out as a new chapter in the publisher’s history. New features clog up the back of the box while others are quietly retired, never to be seen again (vision cone, anybody?).

Madden 16 simply has too many moving pieces to properly cover them in a few days’ time, even after just over 30 hours of play on Xbox One and PlayStation 4, which is why I’m offering a taste of my experience here before the full review laces up its cleats.